Still too close to call: Sinema leads; counties can verify early-ballot signatures through Nov. 14

Still too close to call: Sinema leads; counties can verify early-ballot signatures through Nov. 14

PHOENIX – State and county officials, and Republican Party officials who sued over discrepancies in the way Arizona counties check voter signatures on early ballots, agreed Friday to a settlement that allows the verification process to continue until 5 p.m. Nov. 14.

That could have an impact on the tight Senate race between Kyrsten Sinema and Martha McSally. Sinema regained the lead earlier this week.

Meanwhile, the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office continues to whittle away at its pile of uncounted ballots, which totaled more than 300,000 on Friday. County Recorder Adrian Fontes told the Associated Press
that the count is expect to wrap up Nov. 15. That process is independent of the settlement, which deals with the verification, or curing, of ballot signatures.

The Republican parties in Apache, Maricopa, Navajo and Yuma counties filed the suit against all 15 Arizona county recorders as well as Secretary of State Michele Reagan late Wednesday. The agreement announced in Maricopa County Superior Court, allows all 15 counties in Arizona to cure the remaining early ballots until next Wednesday.

The process works like this: Voters are required to sign the back of his or her early ballot envelope. That signature is compared to the one used to register to vote. If the signatures don’t look similar, the voter will be contacted to confirm their ballot. The four counties named in the suit allow for longer times for verification; Republican officials claimed that disenfranchised voters in the other 11, mostly rural, counties.

It’s not clear how many votes across the state remain to be cured. A Maricopa County official told the AP the number in her county is about 5,600.